Just to clarify: it's a review of the film, not the disc (which I haven't yet seen).

UPDATE: I have now seen the disc, and framegrabs have been posted here - chosen deliberately to match the DVD Beaver grabs of the Clavis disc. The Second Run version opens with the same logos as their Szindbád disc, confirming that this is the 2011 Hungarian National Film Archive restoration. The subtitles are white, and far better written - the Clavis subtitles (or at least the English ones) were sometimes baffling, and were even cut off at the sides on occasion (I have no idea why: I've never seen that happen before or since).

I have to confess to being sceptical about the 1.85:1 aspect ratio when I heard about it, as it always looked fine to me in 1.37:1 (as featured both on the Clavis disc and the 16mm projected screening that I saw about 25 years ago) - although I obviously bowed down to Jancsó and János Kende's authority. But now that I've actually seen it in motion, I can appreciate the difference. Hopefully these comparative grabs make it clear which is the correct ratio - and of course the Second Run disc's anamorphic enhancement helps too, as there's a fair bit more visible detail.

Incidentally, the Second Run disc includes the same episode of Message of Stones as the one on the Clavis - Hegyalja.

That does look substantially better in terms of colour and contrast, and the framing is much more dynamic, at least in those two shots (and that horse one is sort of a dead giveaway open matte shot, isn't it?)

I have to admit that I was disappointed with the film when I first saw it on the Clavis disc (after about twenty years of high anticipation), as I was expecting a visual tour-de-force that didn't quite arrive. The tighter framing seems like it should be a huge improvement and sharpen up the whole viewing experience.

MichaelB wrote:RRP is almost always £12.99 (I think the exception is the double-disc Fighters/Real Money), but in practice you should never have to pay more than £10, and can usually get away with less.

It's selling for £15 in my local HMV branch. Are they entitled to overcharge on the RRP?

MichaelB wrote:RRP is almost always £12.99 (I think the exception is the double-disc Fighters/Real Money), but in practice you should never have to pay more than £10, and can usually get away with less.

It's selling for £15 in my local HMV branch. Are they entitled to overcharge on the RRP?

They can charge whatever they like. The first 'R' in 'RRP' means "recommended", after all.

John Edmond wrote:Question: was psalm meant to also invoke palm? Or is that just a fortuitous accident of translation?

You'll have to ask whoever came up with the English title, whoever he/she was.

It's worth mentioning, though, that Red Psalm isn't a translation: the Hungarian Még kér a nép means "And the people still ask" - so it may well have been directly inspired by one of the film's most famous images.

Jancsó's titles often underwent sometimes radical alteration - Szegénylegények means "The hopeless ones" (and is indeed known as Les sans-espoir in France), but we know it as The Round-Up. Csillagosok, katonák translates as "Starry soldiers" or "Stars on their caps", not The Red and the White, and Google Translate informs me that Fényes szelek means "Bright winds", not The Confrontation.

Yes, it's worth noting, and I should have. It was when I was reading Hame's essay that I realised its English name had nothing to do with Még kér a nép. Re-naming would have been a better term than translation. Still, Red Psalm is ridiculously apt.

MichaelB wrote:Jancsó's titles often underwent sometimes radical alteration - Szegénylegények means "The hopeless ones" (and is indeed known as Les sans-espoir in France), but we know it as The Round-Up. Csillagosok, katonák translates as "Starry soldiers" or "Stars on their caps", not The Red and the White, and Google Translate informs me that Fényes szelek means "Bright winds", not The Confrontation.

I actually prefer the English titles to the Hungarian originals. Was this done with Jancso's blessing or didn't he mind? Must check the direct translation for Igy jottem(My Way Home).

Igy usually works out to 'so' or 'such'. 'Home' isn't actually specified in the title, but can be implied by context. Literal would be something like 'So I came' or 'Thus I came'--would definitely say 'My Way Home' is pretty darn close without sounding goofy.

Please note: gy is a single letter, pronounced sort of like 'dj' together...not like Iggy Pop.

skuhn8 wrote:Igy usually works out to 'so' or 'such'. 'Home' isn't actually specified in the title, but can be implied by context. Literal would be something like 'So I came' or 'Thus I came'--would definitely say 'My Way Home' is pretty darn close without sounding goofy.

Please note: gy is a single letter, pronounced sort of like 'dj' together...not like Iggy Pop.

Thanks for the explanation. I got "Thus I came" from Google Translate, which baffled me a bit until you clarified it.